Hi GSD Leader 👋 As the year came to a close, one thing has become crystal clear: Doing more is no longer the answer.

I hope you had a meaningful holiday season with the people you love. And if there’s one thing I know for sure, it’s this: change isn’t easy. Change is uncomfortable. It can feel scary. But real movement, the kind that actually shifts your life, always lives on the other side of change.

Across every conversation, every retreat, every wellness event, and every leadership room I’ve been in this past year, the same theme kept showing up quietly but consistently:

People aren’t lazy. They’re exhausted.

And the systems we’ve been using to define success are no longer working.

The past year wasn’t about chasing more goals or adding new tools. It was about unlearning what we thought productivity, leadership, and wellness were supposed to look like and rebuilding something more sustainable.

Here’s what we learned.

For years, many of us believed burnout was a personal failure.
A lack of discipline. A motivation issue. Something to “push through.”

But what we saw tells a different story. Burnout shows up when:

• Work never truly shuts off
  
• Rest feels earned instead of essential
  
• Wellness is treated like a reward instead of a foundation
  

Stress drains energy, it shortens lives, erodes creativity, weakens leadership, and quietly chips away at culture. When people are constantly operating in survival mode, even success feels heavy.

And that realization has changed everything.

One of the biggest shifts we witnessed is how organizations are starting to view wellness.

Not as:

     🧘 A yoga class

     🗓️ A wellness Wednesday

     ☑️ A checkbox on an HR list

But as a core driver of performance, retention, and long-term growth.

When leaders prioritize wellness, teams feel supported instead of depleted. Engagement increases, turnover decreases, and productivity becomes sustainable rather than reactive.

Healthy leaders build healthy teams. And healthy teams build resilient businesses. It’s what we watched happen in real time.

In hospitality and wellness tourism, 2025 was a wake-up call.

Guests are no longer impressed by words like “spa,” “reset,” or “wellness-inspired.”
They can feel when something is real and when it’s just marketing.

The brands that stood out weren’t the loudest. They were the most aligned.

They invested in:

• Their people
  
• Internal culture, not just external aesthetics
  
• Experiences that were executable
  

You can’t sell peace if your team is exhausted.
You can’t offer restoration if your systems create burnout.

The future of hospitality belongs to the brands that live what they offer.

Another major shift we saw is that people don’t want to escape their lives anymore. They want tools that help them live better when they return home.

The most impactful retreats were about:

     🧠 Nervous system regulation
     💃 Movement
     😮‍💨 Breath
     ⏸️ Stillness
     💖 Creating space to hear yourself again

The best wellness experiences taught skills. Skills people could integrate into real life, real work, and real leadership.

If there was one non-negotiable through every wellness conversations, it was this: Movement changes everything.

Not extreme workouts. Not punishment-based fitness. Not “all or nothing” plans.

Simple, consistent movement:

• Walking meetings
  
• EMS training
  
• Cold and heat exposure
  
• Breath-led movement
  
• Dancing, stretching, getting out of the chair
  

Movement regulated stress, restored energy, sharpened focus, and brought people back into their bodies.

This year also marked a shift in biohacking.

People are no longer chasing trends. They’re asking better questions.

What works for my body?
What does my data actually say?
How can I be proactive instead of reactive?

Personalized insights, recovery tools, longevity testing, and AI-supported wellness are becoming less intimidating and more accessible especially for leaders who want clarity without guesswork.

Wellness works best when it’s measured, personalized, and supported.

One of the longevity brands we consistently trust and collaborate with is Next Health, because they’ve made this personalized, data-driven care approachable and actionable. They currently have two locations in Nashville, and if you’re curious about biohacking and longevity, it’s worth checking to see if there's Next Health near you. Having access to real insights about your body can be a powerful turning point when you’re ready to stop guessing and start making informed decisions that actually support your energy and long-term health.

Perhaps the most powerful lesson of 2025? Wellness sticks when you’re not doing it alone.

Across Nashville and beyond, we watched leaders show up together. Trying new things, asking better questions, and supporting one another in real time.

When leaders move together, culture shifts. Habits change. Accountability becomes natural. Wellness stops feeling like an exception and becomes the norm.

As we're step into 2026, the question isn’t “What more can I do?”
It’s “What actually supports the life and leadership I want?”

The year ahead is about building wellness into systems. It’s about designing workdays that support your energy instead of draining it, and leading in ways that are sustainable, human, and honest.

Sometimes that looks like walking meetings in the park. Other times it’s strategy conversations during a cold plunge, or meaningful discussions happening inside a hyperbaric chamber at a longevity center. Wellness doesn’t have to live outside of work; it can be part of how work happens.

And here’s where I want to challenge you.

Instead of defaulting to lunch meetings or sitting across a desk in an office, ask yourself: What if we did this differently? Below, you’ll see images from real work meetings I’ve had with clients while doing sauna and cold plunge sessions, Manduu EMS training, sitting in a hyperbaric chamber at Next Health, and even during a cellulite reduction treatment. All while taking care of my body and getting business done.

You don’t have to choose between wellness and productivity. You can do both. And when you start leading this way, the right clients, partners, and teams don’t just understand—it actually attracts the people who want to work this way too.

This is about designing a life, a team, and a business that moves with you, not against you.

As we move into a new year, my hope is simple:
That you measure what matters.
That you protect your energy.
That you build success you can actually enjoy living inside of.

Here’s to a new standard of wellness, leadership, and growth together. 💛

✨ A Different Way Forward ✨

Corporate wellness doesn’t have to be complicated or performative. We help organizations build healthier habits into the flow of work so teams can stay engaged, focused, and energized long term. If you’re exploring new ways to support your people in 2026, we invite you to click below to learn more. ⬇️